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S&P Hits All-Time Closing High

Written by: Joe Deaux03/28/13 - 4:09 PM EDT

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The S&P 500 reached a record closing high on the final trading day of the quarter, passing its record closing high reached in 2007, some five years after a mortgage-backed security crisis sent the world's largest economy into its worst recession in more than 70 years.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to 1569.08, besting its former record of 1,565.15 reached on October 9, 2007.

The S&P hit a new high despite uncertainties posed by the reopening of Cyprus' banks and an increase in U.S. jobless claims. The market benchmark has gained 134% since hitting its five-year low in March 2009, a bull run bolstered by the Federal Reserve's bond buying program, historically low interest rates and a boom in corporate earnings.

"The prior all-time high at 1,565.15 has acted like a tractor beam pulling investors toward it, and now it appears as if we have eclipsed it -- the real question is whether we will close above this level," said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. "I don't believe it's gone too far too fast, based on the continued improvement in economic and earnings-growth projections."